


Live Before You Die

by Little_Night_Roses



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-19 01:30:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Night_Roses/pseuds/Little_Night_Roses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a group of young offenders get struck by lightning during a storm, strange things begin to happen and it's worse than anyone could have imagined. Will Peeta, Katniss, Finnick, Gale and Johanna be able to survive community service?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Weren't Born To Follow

**Author's Note:**

> Just a few little notes before the story gets started. Yes, this is based on the t.v series Misfits, but you don't have to have seen the show to understand this fic. Changes to the story and lines have obviously been made to better fit the Hunger Games characters. Anyway, hope this isn't too terrible. I just couldn't get this out of my head and had to write it.
> 
> Enjoy

Community Service.

Most people would be very relieved to be have been granted this sentence after a drink driving and car theft charge. Peeta Mellark was not one of those people. Couldn't they just have given him a fine instead? He would have much preferred that. Paying a fine from the comfort of his own home and then going on with his life. Yes, that would have been much more preferable. Actually, if Peeta was going to make any alterations to his situation at all he would have chosen not to have been caught in the first place. But he had been, and after days of suffering through his mothers angered lectures he had also been sentenced to community service. Two weeks ago he had been out with his friends at a high end club: chatting, laughing and just generally having a great time. And now he was in a dingy, dirty community centre locker room with a bunch of total strangers who, by the looks of some of them, were in for crimes much worse than drink driving.

Never in a million years had he imagined he would end up in a place like this. Community service was for criminals and delinquents, certainly not for friendly baker's son's who had simply made some bad choices. Peeta decided it was probably best to keep his distance from the others. Twelve weeks of community service surely wouldn't be that bad if he simply did the time for his crime. There was no need to get involved in any other sort of trouble. So Peeta kept his head down while he and the other members of his community service group pulled on their orange jumpsuits over their clothes and trudged outside to wait for their next orders.

"This is it"

The probation worker, who introduced himself as Brutus, had the look of an army general of some sort, with his straight posture and the way in which he addressed the six members of the group upon his arrival outside.

"This is your chance to do something positive, give something back. You can help people, you can really make a difference to people's lives. That's what community service is all about."

Brutus stared at the youngsters, as though daring them to interrupt him. They stared back, in varying states of emotion. Disbelief, fear, boredom. Peeta shuffled uncomfortably from the edge of the huddle, trying to put as much distance between himself and the others as possible. Brutus continued

"You know, people out there they think you're scum. This is your chance to prove them wrong"

"Yeah but what if they're right?" Interjected the tall, athletic boy (who Peeta remembered at burst into the locker room and loudly announced his name to be Finnick) , earning himself stares from the others.

"No offence" he continued, his confidence easily noticeable as he spoke "But I'm thinking some people are just born criminals."

"Are you looking to get stabbed?" snapped the boy to his right, fixing him with a hateful glare. Finnick turned back to Brutus with a smirk.

"Do you see my point?"

The sound of a phone ringing suddenly echoed through the air, though it quickly stopped as a girl with short hair and the top three buttons of her jumpsuit undone answered it and began to chat while Brutus attempted to regain order in the group.

"Hey!"

The girl ignored him and continued to talk.

"Doing my community service…..boring as fuck…"

"Hello, I'm still talking here" Interrupted Brutus loudly, a note of authority in his deep voice.

"Well I though you'd finished" shrugged the girl, clearly unfazed. Peeta shuffled a few more steps further away. At the other end of the group he could see a girl with a long dark braid who seemed to be attempting to do the same.

"You see my lips moving that means I'm still talking" snapped Brutus

"Yeah but you could have been yawning" suggested Finnick"…or chewing"

Brutus ignored him and turned back to the girl, who had turned her attention back to her phone.

"End the call" he ordered "Hang up!"

Finnick took then took opportunity to turn his own attentions elsewhere. He shot Peeta a winning smile, asking.

"You alright there, weird kid?"

Peeta quickly turned away, as the girl on the hung up her phone and a relative peace settled over the group.

For about two seconds.

Finnick had thrown his arm around the boy who had previously threatened him, and was attempting to remove the baseball cap from the boys head.

"I will rip out your throat and shit down your neck" threatened the boy, grabbing a laughing Finnick by the collar.

"I shouldn't be here" muttered a tall guy with dark hair, choosing to speak for the first time as the two young men on his right began to scuffle. "Can I move to a different group? This isn't gonna work for me"

"And what makes you think you're better than us?" snapped the girl who had previously been on the phone.

"Wow, you're pissed off" Finnick addressed the girl "Seriously, that was really loud. Are we supposed to be able to understand you?"

"Do you understand that?" asked the girl, flicking him the middle finger. Finnick turned back to the boy he'd been fighting previously with a grin.

"I think she likes me"

No sooner had he spoken then the fight was on again. This time, Brutus didn't bother with orders as he marched over and began attempting to break up the fight and once again restore order.

Peeta meanwhile, just wanted to go home.

Two hours later, (once peace had been restored and the group were busy painting benches), he still felt the same way. Brutus had since left them to their work, and Peeta couldn't fight the paranoia that he would soon become the victim of either the groups verbal or physical abuse. Working at the bench in the middle with the guy Finnick had been fighting, who apparently bore the nickname 'Marvel', proved to be less daunting than Peeta had thought. While he disliked being surrounded by the others he didn't have to speak to anyone, which was fine with him.

At the bench on his left he could see the girl with the braid looking bored and lazily flicking her paintbrush along the bench without much care or thought. Peeta couldn't blame her. He liked painting, but this was dull as hell.

No one spoke for the longest time, until eventually Marvel interrupted the silence by accidentally leaning his head against the wet bench and getting the side of his face smeared with white paint.

"This is bullshit!" he snapped suddenly, kicking his paint tin into the nearby river before storming off to the sound of laughter from Finnick. Peeta quietly got back to work on his bench. Try as he might though, he was still able to hear the conversation struck up at the bench to his left.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

It was the girl with the braid, and this was the first time Peeta had heard her speak. Her bench partner, the dark haired guy, looked up from his paint tin.

"No"

"Yes I do" the girl pressed on "You're that runner guy. Gale something? You really screwed up"

"Thanks for reminding me" said Gale sharply, rolling his eyes and turning away.

Meanwhile on Peeta's right side another conversation was striking up.

"So I'm guessing …shoplifting?"

Apparently Finnick was trying to guess what his bench mates crime was. The girl , who Peeta now knew was named Johanna, apparently wasn't too impressed because she simply raised her eyebrows at him.

"No?" asked Finnick, unperturbed.

"Don't act like you know me because you don't" shrugged Johanna, causing Finnick to act offended.

"I'm just making conversation…this is our chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swapping tips, brainstorming"

Again Johanna simply raised her eyebrows, then went back to carelessly slapping her paintbrush against the back of the bench.

"Come on. What did you do?" pestered Finnick, though he was clearly attempting a more charming approach this time. Johanna sighed, clearly irritated.

"This girl called me a slut so I got into a fight"

"What did you do? Steal her boyfriend?"

"No, I stole her purse. The bitch deserved it"

Evidently, this confession was good enough for Finnick because he then turned his attention elsewhere.

"What about you, weird kid?"

To Peeta's horror he found himself to be the next target.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything" continued Finnick "But you look like a panty sniffer"

"I'm not a pervert" said Peeta in the best defensive voice he could muster. It seemed to have no affect though, because he soon found himself fixed under a condescending gaze from Finnick. After a few moments it became too much and Peeta found himself confessing.

"I stole a car then crashed it"

"Nice!" Finnick held his hand up, as though expecting a high five which never came. Peeta averted his gaze and got back to painting.

"What did you do?" asked Johanna as Finnick turned back to the bench.

"Me? I was done for…..eating some pick'n'mix" he answered. Peeta couldn't help but wonder if this story was true. Evidently he wasn't alone in this because Johanna tossed her hair back and said

"Bullshit"

Finnick chose to ignore her though, fixing his gaze up at the sky where dark grey clouds were quickly forming.

"What's up with this weather?"

Brutus's deep voice echoed through the cold air.

"How'd that happen?" he asked, indicating the spilled paint from when Marvel had tossed the can aside. "I mean, I've left you alone for about 10 minutes. It's painting benches, how'd you screw that up?"

He fixed each of them with a glare, folding his arms when none of them answered.

"You tell me because I've got no idea"

A loud, deafening crash sounded abruptly as what appeared to be a large block of ice smashed through the roof of a nearby, expensive looking car. The shock of the impact caused them all to jump backwards in alarm. When Brutus spoke again his voice was higher pitched than normal.

"This was my car" he murmured wildly, before whipping around as though looking for someone to blame. Peeta quickly whipped his phone from his pocket and began to take a film. No one was going to believe this if he didn't. Meanwhile, Finnick had begun to laugh.

"Classic" he smirked. The smile was wiped from his face seconds later as a second ice block crashed into the river behind him, causing the ground to shudder and water to splash everywhere.

"What is that?" cried the braided girl, pointing to the sky where a dark, almost black cloud was hovering above them. Peeta only had the chance to point his phone towards it for the shortest of moments before yet another ice block fell from the sky and smashed into the pavement just meters from him. Brutus's militant instincts then must have kicked in because he began to yell loudly over the sound of the now strong wind.

"Everybody, move!"

As quickly as they could, the group rushed back towards the community centre. Around them, more ice and rain began to fall from the now dark sky. The wind whipped and howled around their faces as the building came in sight. The ground shook furiously as they stumbled along the pavement to what would hopefully be safety. Peeta been so terrified in his life, and by the looks on their faces he could tell the others felt exactly the same. What the hell was going on?

"Keep moving! ordered Brutus, barely heard as the sky began to pelt in an icy downpour. Gale was the first to reach the doors of the building, tugging desperately on the door handles when he did so.

"It's not opening!" he cried, as the rest of them made it up the steps behind him. "It's locked!"

Brutus whipped the keys from his pocket, and began fumbling through them to find the one which would grant them all safety.

"Come on!"

"Hurry up!"

The shouts were barely heard over the sound of the storm

"Open the fucking door!" yelled Johanna, loud enough that even Brutus stopped with the keys and turned to snap at her.

"Don't you talk to me like that!"

Whatever her reply was going to be none of them got to hear. A huge, powerful surge of what felt like electricity hit them all at the same moment. It was a bolt of lightening, and they each found themselves helplessly thrown backwards in the air and the currents rushed through them. They hit the ground seconds later, to find themselves miraculously unharmed and the storm now settled. As Peeta lay there he couldn't help but think back to his earlier opinion. He was really going to hate community service.


	2. Raise Your Hands

After dressing, foraging for breakfast from a vending machine, and leaving a phone message for his mother, Finnick quickly snuck out of one of the community centres unlocked windows and made his way to the front of the building, praying he wouldn’t be seen. It wasn’t until he rounded a corner, lighting a cigarette as he went that he noticed the rest of his community service group staring in shock, standing next to the huge, scrawled writing that had been painted onto the wall.  
The words read “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU”.  
“This is a joke. Did one of you do this?” Gale was asking.  
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it” snapped Johanna at him as Finnick approached. Katniss was busy texting on her phone, looked unfazed, while Peeta was staring worriedly at the wall, looking scared.  
“Maybe someone actually wants to kill us” he suggested quietly. Johanna raised her eyebrows, as though this was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.  
“And why would anyone want to kill us?” she asked, mockingly.  
Before anyone could answer, Brutus made his first appearance of the day.  
“Right come on you lot, go and get ready” he ordered, back to his usual self.  
“Have you seen this?” Gale asked, gesturing towards the graffiti “Someone’s taking the piss”  
“Terrible, isn’t it?” commented Brutus, eyeing first the wall and then the group. “All this anti-social behaviour”  
“Was that directed at us?” challenged Johanna, but if it was none of them ever found out because at that moment Katniss’s phone began to ring loudly, turning Brutus’s attention to her.  
“Right, that’s it! All of you give me your phones now. No one’s making anymore calls today” He held his hand out towards Katniss, but she made no move to give him the phone.  
“It’s my sister, it could be important” she protested, though she eventually handed the device over under the probation workers glare. The rest of them grudgingly followed suit.  
“I’m waiting for a call from my Mom” argued Finnick, as Brutus snatched his phone away from him. One all the phone’s were in his possession, Brutus was evidently done talking and proceeded to fix them all with a glare which clearly told them to go and get ready. They did so, not noticing Brutus’s eyes on their backs as they left.

“Is he allowed to take our phones?” Katniss asked, as the group pulled on their orange jumpsuits.  
“He’s probably going to use them to call one of those sex lines” said Finnick in all seriousness.  
“And those things are expensive” added Gale, packing his things into his locker.  
“Call them a lot, do you?” smirked Johanna, earning a flick of Gale’s middle finger. Further down the changing room, Peeta stood alone and ignored while sorting his bag. As he did so, his eye caught on something sitting under one of the benches.  
“He’s probably out there now filming himself on our phones, naked” Finnick was saying, as Peeta crouched down and picked the object up from the floor. It was a hat. More specifically it was the one Marvel had been wearing the day before….and it was covered in blood. Peeta shivered slightly, and held the garment at arms length.  
“Isn’t this Marvels?” he asked, holding it out for the others to see. None of them turned around, nor stopped their conversation.  
“There’s blood on it….” Continued Peeta “Has anyone seen him?”  
Still no one replied, in fact, they didn’t even seem able to hear him. It was then that Peeta felt a cold rush through his body, and became momentarily dizzy. His body seemed to jerk involuntarily and the room began to spin for a moment and then…  
He fell over. And still no one turned to look in his direction.  
“Did you see that?” Asked Peeta, concerned about what had just happened to him, and yet again he received no reply or recognition.  
“I’m talking to you” he called, beginning to worry and advancing on the others as they adjusted their jumpsuits. Katniss was fixing her braid, Gale was tying his shoelace and Finnick had just shoved Johanna out of the view of the mirror so he could check his hair.   
“Something’s happening to me” said Peeta desperately, panic now in his voice and mind as the others continued to remain oblivious.  
“I’m right here…look at me!” snapped Peeta. He was right among the group now, right within plain sight yet still no one seemed to actually see nor hear him.  
“Look at me!” he yelled again. Nothing, not even a glance. And then Finnick stepped away from the mirror, leaving Peeta right in front of its gaze and that was when the real terror set in. Peeta’s reflection was missing.  
“Can’t you see me?” he whispered quietly, turning to the group in the hope that it was just a trick of the light. His hopes were shattered seconds later as the others walked past him and out of the room without a second glance, leaving Peeta alone and terrified.  
It wasn’t until the door slammed shut behind them that Peeta again felt the cold dizzying rush hit his body, and turned around to see his own bewildered reflection gazing back out of the mirror.

It was until he managed to pull himself together that Peeta eventually joined the rest of the group outside under the sun as they were attempting to scrub the graffiti death threat off the wall. Finnick was lazily slopping soapy water onto the stone, yawning as he did so while Gale and Katniss seemed to be making a decent attempt at removing the paint. Johanna meanwhile, was leaning on a nearby bench, with the top half of her jumpsuit rolled down to reveal the bikini underneath as she lounged under the sun.  
“Yeah you just relax” Gale was telling her, clearly irritated “Take it easy”  
“Someone’s just gonna write something else on there tonight” observed Johanna as she adjusted her sunglasses. “Look, they make us do these bullshit little jobs, wearing these bullshit orange jumpsuits. They can fuck off”  
“Nice” commented Gale sarcastically, turning back to his work after a moment of letting his eyes run over Johanna’s body.  
“Feel free to check out my tits” said Johanna casually with a smirk, before inserting  
her headphones and attempting to tune out. Before she could press play and start the music though, Finnick’s voice broke loudly into her head.  
“How can she throw me out, she’s my mum…..”  
Johanna was about to tell him to shut up and stop talking so loud, when she realised that his lips weren’t moving.  
“What am I going to do? I’m homeless, that’s so embarrassing…”  
“Do you know after the storm…” Johanna asked loudly, making sure the others were paying attention before continuing “Did any of you feel…I dunno…weird?”  
“Yeah” deadpanned Finnick, feigning worry before smirking “I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus”  
Johanna rolled her eyes and was about to give up on the subject when a second voice came into her head.  
“I should say something….no…I’ll just sound like a freak”  
“Did something happen to you?” asked Johanna, making Peeta jump. He hadn’t intended on being part of the conversation.  
“Something happened….” He began, not entirely sure if anyone would believe him.  
“What’s that?” asked Finnick, cutting in suddenly “Squeak up”  
“Something happened to me…” continued Peeta, uncomfortably aware that everyone was now had their eyes fixed on him.  
“You lost your virginity?” asked Finnick, cutting in again and holding his hand in the air “Hi five!”  
“Shut up!” snapped Johanna, lightly pushing Finnick out of the way before turning back to Peeta.  
“What happened?”  
“I…..it’s nothing” said Peeta, turning back to the vandalised wall. No one would believe him anyway, he decided quietly. Johanna waited for a few moments before shrugging and turning away. As she made her way back to the bench it happened again, Finnick’s voice was in her head as he watched her pass.  
“Would I? I think I would…I reckon she’d go for it too. She seems like a slut…”  
Within a second she slapped him as hard as she could, and stormed away.


End file.
